The present invention relates to hair styling devices, namely devices for forming French knots, buns and the like, and in particular, to stretchable hair styling devices.
Long hair styles are popular with people of all ages, particularly with women. Because of the popularity of long hair styles, several devices have been invented for styling long hair. Examples include barrettes, hair ties, combs and ornamental hair pins.
Concerning hair styling devices that are currently known, there are included a few devices which are useful for styling long hair into a bun, a French knot, or similar style.
One such device is a soft sponge-like ring. The ring is covered with a fine netting material, which can be used by drawing the hair through the opening in the sponge, wrapping the hair around the ring and securing the hair onto the ring by trapping the hair and the netting material together with hair pins. The ring can also be formed from a fabric, such as woven nylon covered with a nylon netting. Typically, the ring has an outer diameter of approximately four inches and has an inner diameter of approximately two inches.
There are disadvantages in using a soft sponge-like ring to form a hair bun. Smooth, thick hair is difficult to wrap around the ring, pin the hair down and have the hair remain in place. Wrapping the hair around the ring is also quite time consuming when the hair is long. Shorter hair may not be possible to wrap completely around the ring.
There are flexible combs that are known having two ends which can be opened to install the comb around the hair, and then closed to form a substantially circular ring. Flexible combs have many sharp, pointed edges which can scrape the scalp. Such a comb is also not particularly useful for styling hair into a bun. The flexible combs described above are primarily intended to be used to form French knots.
Women have also used rubber bands or cloth covered elastic bands to hold either all the hair in a ponytail or knot or to form small sections of hair into ponytails or knots. The devices currently available are closed loops that have no clasping device built into them. The end-user simply wraps the rubber band or cloth covered band one or more times around the hair to hold it in place. If jewelry is attached, the jewelry is either glued to the elastic loop or the elastic loop is drawn through a closed opening in some part of the jewelry or jewelry mounting arrangement therein to hold the jewelry in place. Often, removing the band is somewhat difficult and leads to pulled hair.
There is also known a hair styling device including a flexible elongated body portion having a first end with a press capture clasp portion, a second end with the remaining press capture clasp portion and an elongated slit opening extending through a central portion of the elongated body for receiving hair through the slit opening. This elongated portion, though flexible, further elongates only a relatively limited amount so that it cannot be stretched and wrapped about the hair more than once to thereby provide tension therein to hold the hair more tightly.
There are currently no known hair styling devices which can be used to rapidly and easily form, and disengage from, a tight French knot, bun or similar hair style, and to which a hair styling enhancement, such as a flower or other ornament, may be optionally attached to the hair styling device with an attachment accessory.